About David Tanis

David Tanis

Six months out of the year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, where he’s worked since the 1980s to help define the restaurant’s wildly influential style. The other half of the year Tanis lives in Paris, hosting dinner parties in his six-by-ten-foot galley kitchen with its rickety stove, teensy sink, virtually nonexistent counter space, and a mere half dozen well-used pots and pans. Tanis has been featured in the New York TimesGourmet, and Saveur, among others, and is the author of Heart of the Artichoke, which was nominated for a James Beard Award, and A Platter of Figs, which was chosen as one of the 50 best cookbooks of all time by the UK’s Observer. @david_tanis

Two waffle iron grilled cheese sandwiches on a wooden cutting board with a knife and a waffle iron nearby.

Waffle Iron Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Dust off that waffle iron. You’re going to want to make more than one of these supper-worthy sandwiches with crisped dimples and ooey, gooey interior. And no spattered stovetop to clean!

A cast-iron skillet filled with chilaquiles on a wooden cutting board with a block of queso fresco and half a jalapeno beside it.

Chilaquiles

Essentially eggs scrambled with chips (or day-old tortillas) and salsa, chilaquiles is equally enticing in the a.m. as the p.m., with a cup of hot joe or a bottle of cold cerveza.

A rimmed baking sheet filled with peppery chicken wings

Peppery Chicken Wings

The intensity of the classic buffalo wing is tempered here, usurped by a deliciously, defiantly untraditional blend of beguiling spices.

A large stock pot filled with Southern greens with ham hocks and chopped onions.

Southern Greens with Ham Hocks

Quite simply, these are sturdy kale, collards, chard, and mustard greens are coaxed to enticingness by slowly simmering them with ham hocks or bacon, onions, and spices. A Southern classic reinvented.

Two seared duck breasts, one sliced, the other whole on a wood cutting board

Seared Duck Breast

An elegant and easy riff on steak au poivre that’s made with duck breast rubbed with garlic and peppercorns and cooked to a magnificently rosy medium-rare.

A pot of fork-mashed potatoes with a fork resting inside.

Fork-Mashed Potatoes

These fork-mashed spuds are indulgence defined with their easy execution, deceptively rich taste, and lack of bowls and beaters to clean.

An oval platter with roasted and braised turkey, a dish of stuffing, a bowl of cranberry sauce, a bowl of chestnuts, two glasses of wine, and a small pot of gravy on a wooden table.

Roasted and Braised Turkey

Tender braised dark meat, moist roasted white meat, and skin so crisp you could weep. The best of all parts of the bird…minus the traditional hand-wringing.